The Sinful Encounter
by shallen17
Summary: Even if that man is an enemy, both are full of lies and conspiracies. She is not fond of that man. But between a choice of love and loyalty, she will begin to think that she isn't as meaningful as she once thought she was...


I'm sorry, I will not update my other stories for now...

I really need to focus on my CA exam...

I promise, I will update my other story at the end of January...

But, I really want to release this story before I focus on my agenda...

It's my new story based on my favorited chinese novel that recently made into drama.

This story will be made into 3 series:

1\. The Sinful Encounter

2\. The Cage of Duke's Wife

3\. The Magnificent Kingdom

I hope you enjoy this first series...

* * *

 **Chapter 1**

* * *

 **June, Silvera Kingdom Territory.**

The sun blazed high in the sky, so fierce that the trees on both sides of the road seemed to have bowed down in shame.

Four or five travellers, who could no longer stand the scorching heat, were huddled under the shade of the tree, desperately trying to cool themselves. Because of this, the old man with a small tea booth by the unpaved road had a few more customers than usual.

A carriage, probably an ordinary merchant's, had arrived; its curtains tightly drawn. The driver was a man with huge muscles. He threw down two coins, yelling, "Old man! Gimme some tea!"

"Coming!"

"This damn day is too hot!"

"That's right, that's right. Feel free to cool down under the tree before going on your way."

He gulped down the tea noisily and brought out a huge water container. "Fill that up, I gotta go now."

The seller hurriedly filled the water container.

The man grabbed the container, got on the horse which neighed once, before moving forward.

Inside the horse carriage, Kyoko finally opened her eyes, against the endless bumps of the unpaved road.

It was a humid day and sweat was dripping down her neck. Her eyes were narrowed, as they tried to adjust to the light.

Her head was really sore and pangs of dizziness rose, like waves threatening to consume her.

' _Where am I?'_ Kyoko looked at herself absentmindedly, then around her, and seemed to be fully awaken now.

The memory of a scene, full of fire and cries of battle and fighting returned to her.

"Kyoko, wait outside the city. We'll go in to save Father."

"Then... Master, we'll meet again on the cliff at dawn."

' _Where was the Duke? Master? And what about that mischievous, always-causing-trouble, Yuusei?'_

She remembered that after making the promise, she had set out for the cliff. In her most recent memory, she was definitely already at the cliff. And out of sudden, the back of her head throbbed painfully once before her eyes fade to black...

"You awake?" The curtains were pushed aside, revealing a peering man's face, "You should have woken ages ago. Any longer, and that man would have beaten you to death."

' _Are these people human trafficking troupe?'_ , Kyoko studied them carefully.

Could it be that I've been caught by human traffickers when Master needs me the most? The number of times Kyoko had left the Castle alone throughout her life was scarce and during this exact moment where she was urgently needed, she just had to be caught by the human traffickers.

"Okay, I'm gonna ask you something" The man sat inside the carriage and took out the gag in Kyoko's mouth. They must have had placed it in her mouth to stop her from screaming for help in case she woke up along the journey. He gave her an intimidating glare, "If you don't tell me the truth, I'll feed you to the wolves."

Kyoko nearly laughed at this child-like threat. Why would she be scared? She'd been serving the Marquess of Arkala, Koga Hiromune, since small and she was the only woman who could follow him on his outings. Although she was young, she'd already seen a lot of battles.

Kyoko didn't wait for the man to ask his question, asking one of her own instead. "Did you capture me in the city?"

The man looked surprised at her relaxed expression and chuckled, not angrily. "Yeah."

"How long did I sleep for?"

"Two days and a half."

Kyoko went pale when she heard this, stunned in shock.

If she had been sleeping for the last two days, then the King's soldiers would have begun searching around the capital, making it very difficult for her Master and the others to stay at the agreed place, near the cliffs. Her heart sped up as she asked, "Where are you taking me?"

"To the..." the man suddenly stopped, realising something was wrong. "Eh? You know I'm the one asking questions here, right?" He gave her a ferocious expression. "Say, which rich family have you escaped from, runaway wife? Where's your home?"

' _Runaway wife?'_

Kyoko hesitated, lowering her head and studied herself.

Although she was only a servant of her Castle, her Master had always cherished her and so she'd gotten things that were even more expensive than the ladies of normal households. Her clothes looked expensive and she had been riding away from the city at an odd hour so the trafficker had naturally thought that she had run away from her husband.

No wonder the trafficker hadn't thrown her out in the last two days, he had probably seen some value in her.

Kyoko shook her head and laughed, "I'm just a maid, not a runaway wife from a wealthy family."

"Tch, since when did servants get silk clothes?"

Kyoko debated over what to say in her head carefully. It was highly likely that the King had already ordered all citizens to hunt for the people of Arkala Ducal Castle, so she decided not to give away her real identity. So instead, she rolled her eyes and said, "I escaped out of the city to see my lover, but because I wanted to look pretty, I stole some of My Lady's clothes." Silvera Kingdom was a somewhat noisy place and therefore a lot of women really would sneak out to see their lovers.

The man frowned immediately at this and threw open the curtains, "Oy... Man! Come over here!"

"Coming." There seemed to be more than one trafficker, on the other carriage.

Not long after, a chubby face peered in from the window. "What's up?"

"What's up your head! Didn't you say this girl was a runaway wife from a rich family and could be swapped for a lot of money?" he glared at Kyoko and jabbed an accusing finger at her, "She's just a servant, dammit! And she slept for two days!"

The chubby man scratched his head and studied Kyoko carefully. Then he laughed, "Don't be angry. What's done is done. She'll probably have some value anyway."

"Oh, so you can sell off this rubbish?" sneered the man, jabbing an accusing finger at Kyoko's nose.

True, Kyoko's appearance certainly wasn't at all pretty. Even in the Arkala Ducal Castle, her looks at most, had been average, probably even more common. One could only say that she was "tidy".

But everyone in the Arkala Ducal Castle recognised how important she was.

However, as the stranger jabbed a finger at her and claimed she was worthless, she couldn't help rolling her eyes.

He coughed two times and faked a depressed tone. "Never mind, she should be at least worth around fifty coins. This robbing bitch really gave me false hope, I even let her stay in my private carriage for two whole days. Dammit, take her to the other carriage with the others."

The moment she entered the other carriage, a terrible odour flooded her senses and Kyoko realised why he had been so angry.

In comparison to the first carriage, this one was tattered and crowded, dirty and sweltering hot.

There were seven or eight girls already crammed inside. Their hands had also been tied behind their back like Kyoko and they were gagged, with fear evident in their eyes. All eyes landed sympathetically on Kyoko, as she was now a new addition to these cluster of unfortunate girls.

"Cough, cough... cough..." The carriage was shaking so hard and her throat felt very sore, so she'd coughed a few more times along the journey.

Suddenly, unease rippled in her.

' _Have I not recovered from that time I went with Master to the doctors?'_ Kyoko frowned, closing her eyes and leaning her head against the wall of the carriage.

As she felt a bit more comfortable, she couldn't help worrying.

Arkala Ducal Castle, the place she'd been living all her life, was probably reduced to ashes right?

Prince Shoutaro, no, he was now the new king. The King's hatred of the military-rich House of Arkala grew day by day. Recently her Master had triumphed in the war and the King had finally decided to take him down, framing her Master for rebellion on the day of his return.

Luckily the House of Arkala had been wary, so the damage was not too great.

Her Master should have already found a good escape route by now.

Not that she would know where they'd hide but that was okay, as they'd be safe in a place where no one could guess. Their pursuers won't know where to look and therefore will never find them.

"Do you know where we're going?" She asked the little girl beside her.

"According to that fat guy and mean guy, we would be sold in Ashora Kingdom."

' _In the enemy's country?'_ Kyoko's eyebrows creased even more.

Her Master's last battle at the border was against the troops of Ashora Kingdom. Kyoko had the Ashora Kingdom army purposely being directed into the mountains and then by controlling the river flow, the enemy were forced to full retreat in the threat of a flood. Back then, her Master had said, "Now the whole army knows that we have a female military advisor. When we get back, I'll get Father to reward you. What would you like this time?"

If she was recognised in Ashora Kingdom, the consequences would be...

It seemed that using the human trafficker's carriage to escape the King's wrath was impossible. She'd need to find a good time to escape, leave their carriage and then find her Master by herself.

In the midst of her thinking, her body suddenly heaved forward. Kyoko felt her energy draining away as she began to cough again.

"Cough, cough…"

She had finally stopped but she was left with a foul, blood-like taste in her mouth. Kyoko suddenly froze, did she just cough up blood again?

First things first, how could she escape?

She wasn't unhealthy, but her illness was slowly eating away at her. She hadn't told her Master back in the battlefield, because she didn't want to worry him. And then that incident happened the night they went back.

Her thoughts were still a mess, no wonder her illness had gotten worse.

Kyoko thought for a little longer and sighed, _'Fine, Ashora Kingdom it is'_. She had decided to go to Ashora Kingdom with the human traffickers.

After all, the command to capture the one thousand members of the Arkala Ducal Castle was only valid on Silvera Kingdom territory.

The enemy's country wasn't a bad option — as long as her identity remained a secret.

* * *

A couple of days later, the carriage had arrived in Ashora Kingdom.

But the human traffickers were not stupid to sell the girls at the poor villages on the outskirts of Ashora Kingdom, so they continued to travel for a couple of days. When they arrived at capital of Ashora Kingdom, they forced the girls off the carriage, have them cleaned at an inn and gave them fresh clothes to wear.

Despite the war, trades of women from the other countries weren't unusual. There seemed to be a section for human traffickers in almost every major city's trading markets. Each of them was pushed on to a stage, one by one, and auctioned.

Kyoko was the most unpopular and was placed towards the end of the line.

"Beauties from Silvera Kingdom! Hey, beautiful women from Silvera Kingdom!"

Kyoko thought of how she was the most important maid at Silvera Kingdom's Arkala Ducal Castle and how she was being sold like a complete nobody now. She shook her head and laughed bitterly.

No wonder people always say that life changes so quickly.

She stood on stage and studied her fellow girls, most of them now sold. She was the last one to be sold.

Being plain really put her at a disadvantage this time. The human traffickers tried to persuade the audience and finally sold her off to a housekeeper looking for an under servant, for forty cents.

If her Master knew that she'd been sold for forty cents, he would have died laughing.

She was then brought over to the well-decorated front door of a huge Castle. "This is the main entrance, got that? You under servants should be using the side door though." The housekeeper pointed at a sign overhead.

Kyoko looked up and read the big characters on the sign, "Oohara Castle".

Luckily it wasn't the Rachdale Ducal Castle, or she would've tried to run.

The Duke of Rachdale, Hizuri Kuon, was the famous cousin of Ashora Kingdom's King. He was the best military commander of Ashora Kingdom — and one of the people who'd retreated in the last battle.

* * *

The people of Oohara Castle were kind to their workers. Mrs. Oohara noticed that Kyoko coughed a lot and even bought her some medicine. Though it didn't exactly work, she did feel a little better after drinking some.

Kyoko secretly waited for her recovery, but one small incident, ruined all her plans to escape.

The weather was relatively good, the sun was hidden behind the clouds and it wasn't as hot as the last two days.

"Momiji, are you busy?". In order to keep her identity, she need to used different name.

"I've just finished washing. What do you need, Mrs. Iizuka? I've done yesterday's washing too, except I still need to fold them..."

"Don't worry about that." Mrs. Iizuka followed Kyoko to the washing line and chuckled, "You can put that down for now, I need to talk to you."

Kyoko put down the bucket of washing, "Yes?"

"You fixed the two holes in my clothes, didn't you?"

"I saw them so I did do the mending. Is it no good?"

Mrs. Iizuka gave another chuckle, "It's not 'no good'. I could hardly tell that there was a hole there! I never guessed you had such nimble fingers!" She grabbed Kyoko's hand, studied it and asked, "Why didn't you tell us about your skill? I'll tell you this, My Lady's wedding is coming up and we're in a rush to prepare the clothes. Only three girls in our entire Castle are proficient with needlework, so I'm worried we won't finish in time. From today on, you don't need to do manual work anymore, come and help sew!" She was Lady Oohara's nurse, so she was extremely excited when it came to her wedding.

"It's a great opportunity. I'll tell the housekeeper about this. Inside you go and don't worry about anything else for now." She bounced away happily, before Kyoko could answer.

Kyoko had no choice but to pack her things up and go inside.

The Oohara family was one of the most famous commercial families of Ashora. The head of the family had one daughter and so her wedding was extremely important. Her clothes required at least four seamstresses and now they had a new addition.

As a seamstress, Kyoko's food and clothing had greatly improved from the time when she was still a manual labourer. However, Kyoko had been spoiled for a long time in the Arkala Ducal Castle, so she took no notice in the changes. Though her lifestyle had very much downgraded, she was flexible and therefore she didn't complain.

Her sewing in Silvera was considered spectacular. Although the Arkala Ducal Castle didn't particularly announce it, there had been some private requests for her needlework.

She was just about to rest her eyes for a moment when a beautiful girl entered the room. Her body was slender, she had huge pondering eyes and her nose was a perfect bridge. She wore an embroidered light purple dress and a necklace of pearls glittered around her neck.

Mrs. Iizuka hurried stood up and asked, "Why are you here, My Lady?"

So she was Lady Oohara. Kyoko had been outside doing manual labour, so this was the first time she had actually seen the Lady. All of the maids stood up.

"Oh Nurse, you're here too?"

"Of course, these are My Lady's wedding clothes after all, shouldn't I be seeing everything thoroughly? Look at this sequin, I took a long time picking it out from..."

Lady Oohara seemed to have lost interest in Mrs. Iizuka's word. She glanced at the red fabric and annoyance crossed her eyes. She turned towards the maids and eyed them, as if searching for someone.

She carefully measured everyone with her eyes, finally letting her eyes rest on Kyoko.

"You, come with me." Lady Oohara pointed at Kyoko and walked away, not waiting for an answer.

"Me?" Kyoko pointed to herself in surprise and looked at Mrs. Iizuka.

"My Lady told you to go, so what are you standing there for? Go." Mrs. Iizuka lightly pushed her shoulder.

* * *

Kyoko followed her into the main room of the Lady's building and a nice fragrance in the air made her relax. Kyoko took a deep breath, thinking, Sir Oohara is really nice to his daughter. This sort of iced fragrance is a luxury that only royalty can afford.

Lady Oohara gestured to Kyoko to come into the room, "Come here".

Kyoko followed and Lady Oohara threw her some clothes, commanding, "Put these on."

The clothes were very fine, a display of exquisite workmanship. It was obvious that these were the Lady's very own clothes.

She saw the confusion on Kyoko's face, clicked her tongue and smiled. "You see, your figure resembled mine most. Geez, I wasn't planning to look for a replacement but Makino just had to get sick."

"Perfect!" Lady helped Kyoko into the clothes and made her turn around. She looked really happy when she said, "your body shape is exactly the same as mine. You'll be thought of as a beauty, so long no one sees your face." Lady was naively romantic in a way that she actually believed her words held no ill intentions.

Kyoko giggled nervously, not knowing what to do.

"What's your name?"

"Momiji."

"Momiji, I need a favour." Lady Oohara took a deep breath and whispered, "If you successfully pretend to be me, I'll greatly award you. If you mess up... Let's just say I'll punish you like hell. Also, don't you dare tell anyone about this! If anyone else learns of it, I'll get Mrs Oohara to whip you!" Her words were threatening but there was no force in her tone.

Kyoko didn't know whether to laugh or not. "My Lady, I promise not to tell anyone. I'll do what My Lady asks."

"Hmm, that's good. Don't be scared, I'm not a violent person actually." Lady Oohara paused before saying, "I need you to go with me outside the city and we will be going to a shrine on a hill. When we get there, I need you to put on my clothes and play the harp, without a fuss. Oh yeah, I forgot, can you play harp?" She had only just remembered such an important detail.

Kyoko saw Lady Oohara look at her anxiously and couldn't help nodding, "A little..."

"That's fine." Lady Oohara repeated the task again, finally adding, "Don't worry. If anything goes wrong, there's still me." She patted her chest and fluttered her eyelashes. She looked really cute.

Kyoko knew immediately that she was going to see her lover. She felt sorry for her fiancé, who was going to marry such a bold and reckless girl.

The carriage had been prepared by afternoon. The housekeeper was already waiting outside. Though her father loved her dearly, she was still the Lady of a big family, so she didn't get many chances to leave the Castle. This meant the times she could see her lover were limited, and therefore she was very excited and nervous right now.

"Momiji will accompany me on the carriage," Lady declared when they came out. Lady Oohara led Kyoko inside the carriage. Lady Oohara's requests were usually unusual due to her spoiled nature so her bringing in a seamstress did not surprise the other people at all.

Kyoko was wearing her usual clothes and the clothes she was going to change into were placed in a bag. This outing reminded her of the ones she went with her Master. Seeing how Lady Oohara was so cute and naive, her energy came back and she was eager to help wholeheartedly.

Luckily the carriage was quite big, so the two girls had plenty of room.

"I've never seen you before."

Kyoko touched her hair, "I used to be outside washing clothes. How was Lady supposed to see me?"

"Washing clothes? That's tiring." Lady Oohara wriggled in her spot. She put a piece of cake in her mouth and held up another piece. "Want some?"

Kyoko liked sweets too. Her master always commanded to save some for Kyoko, whenever they had nice sweets. Even today, she couldn't help nodding at the sight of cake, "Yes, please."

Lady Oohara laughed and placed some in Kyoko's mouth.

The moment the cake entered her mouth, the faint fragrance played at the tip of her tongue. Kyoko had been treated as a normal maid for exactly two months and her face was absolutely delighted

when she ate this delicacy. "It's really good."

As the two people talked, they gradually began to warm up to each other.

Soon, the carriage had left the city gates.

The carriage was put down and Mrs Oohara respectfully beckoned, "My Lady, we've arrived."

Lady Oohara answered back and led Kyoko outside. A monk, who'd been waiting, welcomed Lady Oohara inside. It looked like the Oohara family were regular visitors.

The housekeeper and the footmen were not allowed to go inside – only Kyoko and Lady Oohara were allowed to do so. They locked the door behind them.

"Mrs Oohara occasionally looks through the window, so put on my clothes, sit there and play the harp." The Lady glowered, "Remember, don't pause for too long. If they can't hear the qin, the monks and Mrs Oohara might get suspicious and come in to check on you."

She said this while hurriedly putting on her pre-prepared scholar clothes. She wiped the makeup off her face, instantly transforming into a handsome man. She gave her original clothes to Kyoko and winked. She was very fast so she must've done the same thing before.

"I'm going. I'll be back when the time's right." She went to a corner and somehow opened a secret passage, adding smugly, "Only him and I know about this door, no one else."

Kyoko had also seen secret passageways in Arkala Ducal Castle. It seemed that every big house would have some so she couldn't help smiling and shaking her head, while Lady Oohara's eager figure disappeared.

She sat where she was asked to, hands lightly touching the harp.

The strings beneath Kyoko's five fingers had a welcoming touch.

She loved to play the harp. The faster the notes were, the more it resembles top-quality wine; which possesses the ability to intoxicate the drinker fully.

In Arkala Ducal Castle, she was a legendary girl. Not many had personally seen her before, but everyone knew of her battle tactics, needlework and her spectacular harp skill...

Even the King knew that there was an all-rounded maid working for the Duke of Arkala.

Kyoko lightly plucked a single string, leaving the smooth note hanging in the air like a bewitching appetiser before a grand feast.

Deep, not blunt. Light, yet highly melodic.

After the deep notes came a happy high pitched melody. It was like a graceful egrets flapping their mighty wings, soaring over a lush green forest at daybreak.

The corners of Kyoko's mouth twitched into a smile, as her fingers danced across the strings. The music continued to soar, leaving its listeners to sigh in pleasure.

Suddenly she heard a man's voice outside the door.

"I have never heard such heavenly music in my entire life. May I see the divine face of the Lady who is able to play such music?" His voice sounded well-educated and made one feel relaxed.

This person must have been standing outside for a long time, waiting for me to finish this piece. He must be someone who knows a lot about music.

Kyoko immediately felt slightly flustered because she had temporarily forgotten her orders.

She used her thumb to gently pluck a string. However, before she could refuse, that person suddenly cut in, "My Lady's harp sound is full of regret. As it seems that you do not wish to see me again, then I can only wait for a destined day."

Such a polite gentleman.

Kyoko waited for a moment, carefully listened, and she slowly began to smile. Silence. She tiptoed to the window and peered out. No one was there.

"Has he already left?" A look of penitence flashed in her eyes as her pulse began to calm down.

* * *

By evening, Lady Oohara had come back through the secret passage. Her face was flushed and she looked as if she had a really happy day. Lady Oohara and Kyoko swapped clothes and informed Mrs Oohara that they could go back to the Castle.

In the carriage, Lady Oohara chattered to Kyoko about her lover in a lively manner. When she got to the happiest moments, she couldn't help covering her mouth and laughing merrily.

Kyoko saw how happy she was and felt really happy for her.

"The day passed too quickly." Then Lady Oohara sighed and said, "Wouldn't it be nice if I didn't have to marry?"

Kyoko thought about how strange that was. "Sir really cares about My Lady, so why did he engage you to the Tachibana family without consulting your feelings first?"

Lady Oohara's face darkened at the mention of marriage. "Daddy may love me, but this business is in competition with the Hongo family. There's no way he'd let me marry the son of the person he hates the most. Don't tell this to Daddy or he'll make me marry even earlier."

"My Lady, your wedding is rapidly approaching. You won't be able to hide it much longer.

"Yeah I know..." Lady Oohara sighed and looked at Kyoko. Suddenly she had another thought and grabbed Kyoko's hand, pleading, "If you don't finish my wedding clothes, doesn't that mean I don't have to marry? It's a good idea, just make a small hole in my wedding clothes every day and make Mrs. Iizuka and them work more, please?" She fluttered her eyelashes, clearly pleased with herself.

Kyoko laughed and rolled her eyes at this childish idea. She was about to tell Lady Oohara that that wouldn't work when the carriage stopped.

A crowd of unknown men circled them and slowly closed in. There was about ten of them, and they were all on horses.

These men were wearing peasant clothes but their expression was far too educated, while their actions were too collected.

The sun was starting to set and the Oohara carriage was still outside the city. There were no other travellers on the road. The footmen knew that if they were attacked by bandits, there was no way to defend themselves. The housekeeper finally plucked the courage, barely managing to stay at front of the carriage, her chubby face twitching as a young man, who seemed to be the boss, got off his horse. "Mister, my Lady is in this carriage. We were just returning from the shrine so we have donated most of our money. There's not much left..."

The young man was carrying an air of importance and he saw how the housekeeper had stammered so badly. He laughed, "Missus, you have misunderstood me. I am here on behalf of my Master." Turning to the carriage, he spoke again, "Please excuse my rudeness, My Lady, and accept this."

Lady Oohara wasn't sure what exactly was going on but she was very much amused, "What are you going to give me?"

"My Lady's harp technique was spectacular. Master has asked me to give this golden string harp to My Lady."

Kyoko made a small sound of recognition and suddenly remembered the man who had wanted to see her.

She leaned forward to whisper in Lady's ear.

"Who is your Master?" asked Lady Oohara.

The man politely answered, "Please forgive me, My Lady. Master wishes to keep his name a secret for now. But Master did say that when the time is right, he will come to see you again." After saying this, he bowed again and carefully gave the harp to the housekeeper. Then he got back on the horse and left.

The Lady blinked at Kyoko and whispered, "So you're good at playing harp huh? I couldn't tell."

Kyoko bent over and studied the harp. The harp's body was made of golden string and just by tapping it with mere finger left a sonorous sound.

Kyoko suddenly paled. "Celtic Harp?"

Celtic harp with golden string was extremely rare. It was something that even her Master's money couldn't buy.

The previous owner of this item must be someone special, to give away such a precious item as a gift.

Lady Oohara look really happy and she nudged Kyoko, "That person said that he will come to see you, I'm sure he's interested in you."

"Interested in me?" Kyoko fingered the harp.

Her heart thumped and she wasn't sure what to do.

That person was indeed very sly, his actions were not too fast and not too slow. First quietly listening to the harp, then asking to meet, yet leaving without saying a word and then giving her an expensive harp. Everything was clearly calculated with different motives, just like the art of war.

Although they hadn't met yet, it was enough to spark Kyoko's curiosity.

"Momiji," the Lady nudged her and giggled, "look at you and your dazed look."

Kyoko laughed sheepishly in response, but her eyes never leaving the harp.

' _Ashora isn't a playground, I have to stay alert'._

* * *

 **To be continued...**

* * *

What do you think?...

Please review, fave and follow my story...

See you next time...


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